A role-playing game (RPG), an action game, or the like normally allows the user (player) to acquire an item that appears in the game, and enjoy playing the game using the acquired item. An online game or the like that has a present (gift) function that allows the user to give his item to another user as a present, and thus promotes communication between the users, has also been known (see JP-A-2001-129240, for example).
When the user possesses a plurality of identical items, the user would willingly give one of the items to another user. However, when the user possesses only one item of identical type, the user is reluctant to give the item to another user. When an item given to the user is randomly selected, the user may possess only one item of each type, or each user may possess items of identical type. This hinders communication between the users utilizing the item present function.